Happenings in Juticalpa

Last week Kandice spotted this guy crawling around in our living room...

This picture was taken after he was dead and his legs had curled in. It's the biggest spider I've ever seen up close and personal...

Holy Guacamole!

In other news...my favorite little dog has been following us everywhere we go. Here's an excerpt from Andrew's blog explaining the back story (because this happened when I was in the States):

::commenting on his morning runs with Maki and Jeff::

"The other concern is the roving bands of dogs which basically own the streets after dark. At least one other volunteer gave up running in the morning for just this reason. You see, being a predatory species nothing gets a dog’s dander up like seeing something running. Be it a car, a bicycle, or lone pedestrian, something clicks in the reptilian part of the brain, giving rise to age old instincts and the desire to chase whoever the unlucky sap happens to be. Some of these canines are also quite large, and encouraged by their owners to chase off anyone approaching their house outside of business hours.

All this has not endeared the morning constitutional to me…although the dogs do provide excellent motivation.

But a savior has appeared to defend us on those gray morning runs. He is a force like no other in Juticalpa. The streets are his kingdom and his home, and he rules them with an unshakable…umm…coat of dust! Yes, one might even say that he is one with the grime itself! I am of course speaking of none other than “Spotted Dick* ” Oso, the little dog that lives next door!

(* I would like to clarify for any non-English readers that spotted dick is a type of bread pudding with raisins in it. There seems to have been some misinterpretation going about, and I want to make certain that nobody’s sense of propriety has been affronted by my blog.)

Yes, little Dick followed us on our entire run the other morning, all the way from our house to the center of town and back again. He chased off several dogs, and even slowed down to wait for me when I couldn’t keep up with Maki and Jeff (I have never been much of an athlete, unlike Maki and Jeff, who are both in disgustingly good shape. Talk about lessons in humility.)

I do suspect that fewer dogs would have bothered us had Dick not been there, but at least the ones that did give chase were barking at Dick and not us.." 

Next blog posted by Andrew three days later...

"The attentions of Spotted Dick have ceased to be cute. By the end of my last run Saturday morning, I was in such a state of panic that even just seeing a corner where I knew dogs sometimes hang out got my adrenaline pumping. Maki and Jeff expressed similar dismay over a particularly hairy (in all senses of the word) encounter during the run, in which a hell hound decided they would make a good breakfast. Many of the run-ins (no pun intended) we have in the morning could probably be avoided, if we did not have a certain little white spotted canine following us around.

To make matters worse (as they always seem to be down here) Dick has decided that he can now follow us EVERY time we go into town. This ended in disaster when on Sunday afternoon Dick followed me to the local Texaco gas station. Being one of the volunteers favorite places to work, I was on my way to meet up with the other volunteers and do some lesson planning in the air conditioning. Along the way, Dick decided to stop to gnaw on a piece of trash he found. By the time I had noticed his absence I was 30 feet farther down the road, putting me too far to do anything about the beast of a canine which now took offense to Dicks presence in what was clearly HIS part of town.

The ensuing scuffle was not a pleasant sight, and Dick, although alive, did not come out victorious. He proceeded to run towards me, closely followed by The Beast. What possessed me to stand my ground and shoo the great brute off I will never know, but to my great relief it actually worked. Dick carried on as if nothing had happened…accept that he was now leaving a red trail of dots on the ground behind him, and his neck fur was SOAKED in bright red.

I was not pleased.

I met up with the others at Texaco, and Dick disappeared (or rather was chased off by the gas station attendant), later somehow managing to reappear back home.

Feeling that Dick really needed some sort of medical attention (and knowing full well that his “owners” wouldn’t do anything) we sent a distress call to Sonya, who came to the rescue Monday night.

I don’t think I have mentioned Sonya before in my blog. She is a local vet, and good friend of the volunteers. We met her at the beginning of the year, back when we were still trying to have a get together with some locals too practice each other’s language. She has since taken us on hikes up mountains, and on caving expeditions, has told us of how she went to Russia for veterinary school, and given us all the suspicion that she probably knows 25 ways to kill you with a paper cup. Sonya is, in short, awesome.

So it is with great relief that Sonya arrives Monday night to take a look at Dick. With the help of Dick’s owner’s son, Sonya gave the little guy an anti-biotic shot, as well as an anti-inflammatory (which he did not appreciate).

We are now determined to teach Dick to “stay” when we go out, so as to avoid further incidents."

The problem has clearly not stopped...

Spot waiting as we ate dinner at Negritos

There haven't been any other attacks, and I hope it stays that way!

Rainy season is upon us once again and before leaving Jeff, Andrew, and Lacey's the other night I had to really get decked out in some rain gear. I had a rain jacket but Andrew didn't think that would be sufficient and made me a trash bag poncho as well. I stuffed my computer inside, which is why I have a large rectangular bulge in front of my stomach...

Whenever I leave their house at a late hour my body guards always walk me home :)...

Andrew was prepared incase the water got high enough for some snorkeling, haha!

Lacey popped outside for a quick minute to experience it for herself... 

Last Wednesday I took a picture of Anne with her entire Kinder class and then I quickly snuck in this picture with Jared. I'm so excited we're going to be sponsoring him. He is so sweet and adorable!

On Thursday it was my turn to have a class picture taken. 

Here are my troops (minus 4 or 5)...

I never knew I could love so many different people so much, but I do! Every single one of these little faces light up my world!

“Everyone who’s ever taken a shower has an idea. It’s the person who gets out of the shower, dries off and does something about it who makes a difference” –Nolan Bushnell